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DEALING WITH DISTRACTIONS: Self-awakening to the continuum of Creation

Last updated: March 26th, 2019

When I consider the abundance and the beauty of this world—the evidence of constant generation, life moving through trees, through birds, through animals, through insects, through people, through the whole continuum of creation, I cannot help but give deep and humble thanks. What a pleasure it is to realize that it’s all mine to own in the name of the Creator and to do that with everyone else.

As there is an awakening to that responsibility, the realization of what our human capacities are for, what the whole of creation is for—to give glory to the Creator—there is response from those capacities and from that creation to the deepest calling of my heart, which is the calling of the Creator. There is a collective calling together in various ways and places of those who share that realization, that together, we might allow the full glory of the Creator to be present.

Sometimes the invitation to provide that presence in my world can be specific and clear and large, and often others hear and respond to that same invitation and we find ourselves participating in a creative endeavour together that is very generative and satisfying. At other times, usually much more often, the invitation is less discernible. The seemingly less noteworthy events of everyday life don’t seem to carry the same grand potential for creation and opportunities can be missed for that same revelation of the Creator—just in smaller, but no less important, ways. Big, small, grand, ordinary—they’re all part of the continuum of creation. They’re all part of the spectrum of opportunity to create beauty and to give evidence of the Creator.

I think there’s no greater pleasure, no deeper fulfillment than to respond wholeheartedly to the invitation to be of service in that way. It’s all part of the same continuum. It’s all part of that flow of life, which is ours to steward, which is ours to magnify and build on, into which we bring our own particular essences, our own unique creativity. Wonderful things happen when we do that.

In the flow of life, things arise that can become distractions. I can get distracted from the glory that is present, that I persuade myself that this issue over here is the most important thing right now. When I do I lose sight of the glory that’s unfolding. I have concluded that living a glorious life has something to do with wisely managing distraction. The only reason that I might experience that it’s not there is because I’m distracted from it. I’m doing something else, I’m looking in a different direction, when actually whatever it is that I’m allowing myself to be distracted by is really part of the same flow. I have just believed that I needed to extract it from that flow in order to take care of it. As something removed from the larger context of the unfolding creative process, it does become a distraction.

If the issue is not separated out but maintained in the flow, even though it may seem to be disparate or contrary to what I think should be present, it can become an integral part of a larger creative outworking. What might have held me out of participation in the creative process becomes the very thing through which I can engage. Any experience of separation can be a reminder that there’s a chance to come back into alignment with what we know is true. We can steward what’s at hand and, at the same time, create a resonance that will move into the future and assist us to deal with other potential distractions in creative ways.

There will always be distractions: financial or health challenges, exciting new relationships, projects that take a lot of our attention. All of these could either be distractions from a life centred in primary purpose or could be included in the ongoing flow as particular creative opportunities for further transformation.

There’s a phrase in the Bible, “from glory unto glory,” which evokes for me the awareness of how our lives could be and, I believe, were designed to be. When things occur that feel anything but glorious, that’s a perfect time to do whatever it takes to remember that there’s so much more going on than just what has taken our attention. The flow of life continues and, if we’re not totally taken up by our immediate circumstance, there are gifts that will come—we just have to provide space in our consciousness for them to emerge.

Many years ago a close friend sent me part of a Yeats poem that describes in evocative terms the possibility of experiencing the glory of life in most unexpected ways when there’s openness to it:

My fiftieth year had come and gone,
I sat, a solitary man,
In a crowded London shop,
An open book, an empty cup
On the marble table-top.

While on the shop and street I gazed
My body of a sudden blazed;
And twenty minutes more or less
It seemed, so great my happiness
That I was blessed and could bless.

(from Vacillation, by William Butler Yeats)

What a priceless gift, to rediscover that place where we actually belong all the time—that there are occasions and reminders that come to us that make it easier to get back into that joy of being blessed by life and, in turn, to be able to bless our worlds. Our part of the deal is to ensure that what might be distractions are always held in a larger context and seen for what they are—creative opportunities to expand and clarify our conscious participation in the life that is to be uniquely lived by each of us.

Get some practical tips on how to deal with distractions in DISTRACTED: Tips for removing distractions from your environment>>

[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]Phil Richardson is a trustee with International Emissaries, a program dedicated to opening world consciousness to new levels of awareness and possibility. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops and resides in Cape Town, South Africa.

image: Varona (Creative Commons BY)